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Why aren't our squares square, and other questions from a fruitless trip across the river

By adamg on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 12:58pm

There's no way to summarize Mike Mennonno's post about getting from Somerville to Boston Medical Center by MBTA bus, so just go read it.

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Comments

By Lyss on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 1:24pm.

I've been asking that question since I moved to New England

By BrucemB on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 1:29pm.

...Powderhouse Square which is round, and Ball Square, named for a round object, but shaped like a bunch of randomly intersecting streets.

By adamg on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 1:33pm.

Has to be the one with its own mascot.

By Ron Newman on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 1:32pm.

They stop right on Mass. Ave, between the Central Square T station and Foot Locker. The stop is not hard to find, and I think it's well marked.

By twheaton on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:18pm.

There's also the Red Line to Downtown Crossing and the Orange Line from there to Boston Medical Center stop--surely faster than buses when surface traffic is congested, and easier during inclement weather...

By Ron Newman on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:24pm.

and hasn't since 1987.

It does go to Mass. Ave. station, just south of St. Botolph Street, but you'd still have a 3/4 mile walk from there to BMC. Maybe you're thinking of the Silver Line bus on Washington Street?

By Mollynotloggedin on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:27pm.

Or the New England Medical Center.

By Anonymous on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:29pm.

Methinks twheaton is thinking of the New England Medical Center stop on the orange.

By twheaton on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:46pm.

Yes, that's what I meant to write--although the Mass. Ave. stop might be closer.

By Ron Newman on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:55pm.

That's a mile and a half walk.

By Othemts on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 1:45pm.

The term square has long referred to a geographical feature in cities and towns and not necessarily one that is square-shaped. According to the OED, the term has been in use since 1680 and is defined:

An open space or area (approximately quadrilateral and rectangular) in a town or city, enclosed by buildings or dwelling-houses, esp. of a superior or residential kind, freq. containing a garden or laid out with trees, etc.; more generally, any open space resembling this, esp. one formed at the meeting or intersection of streets; (also) the group of houses surrounding an area of this kind. (emphasis mine)

And it's not just New England. London, where the term was first used, has Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square, neither of which is square shaped. Closer to home New York has Times Square and Herald Square for starters, both of which are triangular.

By Ron Newman on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 1:51pm.

or at least pretty close to one.

Boston has a few square-shaped squares - Blackstone Square, Franklin Square, and (since 1969) Copley Square.

By adamg on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 1:59pm.

You can see it on this view, if you squint a bit - basically, parts of the circle are now parking lots (the dinky sorta road thing by the convenience store and the actual parking lot by whatever that Ground Roundish restaurant is these days).

By SwirlyGrrl on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:31pm.

Then there are all the memorials. These often declare random and often inconsequential residential intersections to be "squares". I've seen one lane, one way residential streets deep into neighborhoods labled things like "Private John J. "Lucky" Cannonfodera Square".

I guess they didn't have a convenient overpass for their grief?

By DoodleBean on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:27pm.

It's not hard to find the #1 and C1 stops so I'm hoping the guy's posting overseas isn't too challenging. I also found it bizarre that he spent a lot of time wandering around Central Square and didn't ask one person for information.

I'm not a fan of Central, either, but there are plenty of decent people around there. There are tons of high- and middle-end retail outlets (The Gap, Starbucks, CVS, etc.). Surely he could have found someone to help him (yes, I do realize that wasn't the problem...hence my point).

You also have to wonder why he let the bus go by when he finally found the correct stop.

Oh well, my wishes for good luck to yet another Bush Administration staffer! Let's hope he doesn't screw up too badly.

By EricJay on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:29pm.

On the first page, Felber describes our area's roads:

Boston’s roads were never meant to be urban thoroughfares — they intersect at odd, often precipitous angles, with frequently interesting results from an urban-design standpoint. Often, three or four roads will intersect in more or less the same place.

When this happened in an area unburdened with history, landmarks, or valuable real estate, the twentieth-century Bostonians created enormous disks of pavement where the roads collided, which they called “rotaries”...

However, when many roads intersect in places that are historic, landmark-laden, or filled with valuable real estate (a set of conditions that can be best described as “almost everywhere”), the planners and pavers of Boston opted to create Squares. From a design standpoint, this roughly means, “Do nothing and name the place after the principal reason why we can’t have a rotary here.”

By Ron Newman on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 2:37pm.

which happens to be both a rotary and right next to Somerville's most historic landmark, the Old Powder House.